What started as a retreat turned into a surrender Tuesday, as Cook County Board President John Stroger dashed any possibility that he would continue fighting to raise the county’s real-estate transfer tax.
Four days after jolting Cook homeowners with the news that the tax would rise 15-fold starting Jan. 1, Stroger withdrew the plan.
And he said his decision is final, even though the General Assembly remains poised to approve a bill requiring voter approval before Cook County and other units of local government raise such transfer taxes.
“It’s dead,” Stroger told commissioners and the crowded gallery at Tuesday’s County Board meeting.
In place of the tax hike, which would have raised the county fee for selling a $100,000 home to $750 from $50, Stroger offered diplomacy.
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He said he plans to seek help from Gov. Jim Edgar and the legislature in paying for the $800 million annual cost of programs mandated by the state.
“What we want to do is to try to focus on working with the legislature,” said Stroger, who reported to the board that he already had spoken with Senate President James “Pate” Philip (R-Wood Dale).
Neither Stroger nor County Board Finance Committee Chairman John Daley would say whether the board now may move to raise the county’s sales tax.
“There are going to have to be cuts,” said Daley, brother of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. “Major, major cuts.”
Along with shifting the focus to his legislative initiative Tuesday, Stroger indulged in a little damage control. He distanced himself from his plan that would have raised the tax on selling real estate to $7.50 from 50 cents on every $1,000 of property value.
County officials said the tax hike would have raised as much as $75 million in its first year.
“To be absolutely candid with you, this was not one of the things that I thought was in the best interest of the county in terms of generating revenue,” Stroger said.
But he said county commissioners and his advisers had recommended raising the transfer tax “rather than a sales tax increase.”
Stroger acknowledged that his office had erred in attempting to pass the hike without the normal round of public hearings. He attributed the haste to his desire to pre-empt the legislation in Springfield.
“Before you move on any controversial or emotional issue, you’ve to do a better educational job,” Stroger said. “We didn’t spend enough time educating people.
“I want the public to know, `I heard you. I heard what you said.’ “
Stroger’s pronouncement ended a frantic political and popular mobilization against the transfer-tax hike. Stroger’s office unexpectedly floated the plan Friday.
By Monday, irate callers were flooding commissioners’ switchboards, opponents were holding news conferences and commissioners who had supported the measure began wavering.
Although officials in Stroger’s office suggested that the majority of the calls were from “special interests,” officials in the real estate business said homeowners led the charge.
“What you saw was a real grass-roots reaction,” said Cam Benson, president of the Chicago Association of Realtors.
A normally astute manager of his political agenda, Stroger found his proposal blasted by real estate groups and citizens alike.
County commissioners said that by late Monday, the message from the public was clear.
“I think it’s important that we recognize that it was hasty and unwise to proceed under the circumstances,” said Commissioner Cal Sutker.
Added Commissioner Herbert Schumann Jr., “The county abdicated its responsibility for a public hearing to the media. We got the message, no doubt.”
While the public and real-estate groups had delivered their message, Stroger sought Tuesday to communicate his belief that the state has thrust too many criminal-justice responsibilities on the county without helping to foot the bill.
In particular, he said, as state-mandated penalties for crimes have increased, the costs of prosecuting and incarcerating suspected criminals have soared.
Stroger noted that the number of prosecutors in Cook County has nearly doubled, to 1,000, since 1990.
Similarly, Stroger said that the state required the county to pick up an additional $13 million for processing of juvenile delinquents, a cost traditionally paid by the state.
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Stroger said the lack of “equity and fairness in how the county is treated” has to stop–a point he plans to bring home in his talks in Springfield.
“The state continues to put responsibility on this county and does not give the county the necessary resources to care for its responsibilities,” Stroger said.